Tall Tale Of Willie Whale Wins Contest

April 14, 1985|By This story won the all-school and Grade 5 titles in this year's Umatilla Elementary School tall tale writing contest. Grade winners received cash prizes of $5 and the all-school winner received $10. Willie's Problem by Chris Lunsford, Grade 5 Umatilla Elementary School

Splash! Splash! Ten million years ago in the Atlantic Ocean, Willie the Whale was born. He was a monster as big as the state of Texas. Soon after he was born his mom died.

As the years passed Willie soon grew up. When he was fully grown he was as large as the moon. His teeth were as big as houses and as sharp as needles. Since Willie was so huge he had to try and catch the greater fish for more meat. The little fish didn't have as much, but he couldn't catch the bigger fish.

There was a place where the fish went to get away from Willie. It was under the only land on the earth. Since Willie was so big he couldn't fit under there and catch the fish. Then Willie had an idea. He would break up the land. Willie thought that he had enough power. Then he could catch the bigger fish. The next day Willie got ready. Willie got 10 miles away from the land. He started towards it fast. He was there in five seconds.

Boom! Boom! Boom! He had broken up the land, but fish weren't under it. They were out hunting for other fish. He knocked the land into pieces. These are now the continents of Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Antarctica.

After he hit the land he rested. Later after he woke up he went looking for the fish. It was only about 45 minutes until dark. He saw the fish and chased them for a little bit. The big fish went back to where the hunk of land was. They didn't know where it had gone. He chased them until dark and then he realized that he had another problem. He couldn't find the fish in the dark.

So he went back to where he lived and stayed there for two days. He couldn't think of how he could chase them in the dark if he couldn't see them. Then all of a sudden Willie had an idea. Since he was so big he would try to touch a star with his tail. The star would make bright light for Willie and then he could chase the big fish in the dark.

He went to the surface and put his tail toward the North Star. He touched it and stardust fell in the water. He went underwater where it was very dark. He looked back through the ocean. It was glowing just as he had figured it would. He thought to himself that he would put stardust in the oceans tomorrow night.

The next night instead of hitting it with his tail he jumped and opened his mouth. When he got to the star he bit a chunk of it off and dived back into the ocean.

He went through the ocean spreading the stardust. He chased all of the fish for 24 hours. Soon the big fish grew tired. Willie caught them, but he ate too many and he blew up.

You can see his bones these days. They are the Rocky Mountains in America, the Himalayan Mountains in Asia, and the Andes Mountains of South America.